Johnnie at the Door
“Like any artist of note, I have a few unusually dedicated followers.”
That’s how Gilded Age opera singer Ella Shane introduces her stage-door Johnnies. For Ella, the fellows who come to visit after the show are a minor annoyance, if one she chronicles in her usual colorful fashion. For less exalted, and well-protected, artists they might be anything from potential partners…to a very real danger.
By the late 19th Century, as Ella would be happy to tell you, there is no automatic assumption that a woman who makes her living on the stage is a person of questionable virtue. In fact, a certain kind of chorus girl might even be singing and dancing in hopes of finding a suitable match, with the well-born and -financed gents in the audience keeping a close eye for a potential spouse.
Those very high-end chorus girls, the Gaiety Girls in Britain, and a little later, the cast of of FLORADORA in the States, were an entirely different art form (and an entirely different #ThrowbackThursday post – next week!) than most female performers. While it was certainly possible to make an honorable career in the theatre, it wasn’t easy, and it definitely wasn’t always safe and pretty.
The stage-door Johnnies were both an occupational hazard – and a potential perk. Of course, in the 19th Century, no one had ever heard of stalking, but performers, and whatever protectors they had, were very familiar with the overly enthusiastic admirer. Then, as now, it could take any form from the annoying to the actively dangerous; there are plenty of lurid tales of men coming after women they knew only from the stage.
Despite that, most stage-door admirers were harmless, if annoying. There’s no need for a deep dive into the male gaze here, but you don’t have to be a performer to know it can be pretty creepy to have a man you don’t especially want looking at you in a certain way. And if pleasing the patrons is your job, you just have to tolerate the look – and hope that it never goes any further. A century-and-a-half before #MeToo, even the most enlightened employer would figure if you’re putting yourself on stage to be looked at, you don’t have a right to complain about a little staring off stage.
Every once in a while, though, you might actually get lucky enough to have someone you wanted to look at you. It’s not something anybody kept stats on, but there were basically two possibilities for a decent marriage if you were a performer: you could marry a man in the business or you could meet someone outside. In a theatre company, where there are no secrets, a lot of women knew much too much about the habits of their colleagues to want one as a husband.
Which left the fellows at the door.
It wasn’t the approved way to make a match, of course, but nice people had to meet somewhere, and sometimes, women actually did find a husband among the stage-door Johnnies – without living to regret it.
That, however, is not very likely for Ella Shane. Her admirers are very definitely in the
“annoying at best” category, though they’re good for plenty of fun along the way. And as for potential partners, well, the answer to that question is coming soon, in A FATAL RECEPTION!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments.
That’s how Gilded Age opera singer Ella Shane introduces her stage-door Johnnies. For Ella, the fellows who come to visit after the show are a minor annoyance, if one she chronicles in her usual colorful fashion. For less exalted, and well-protected, artists they might be anything from potential partners…to a very real danger.
By the late 19th Century, as Ella would be happy to tell you, there is no automatic assumption that a woman who makes her living on the stage is a person of questionable virtue. In fact, a certain kind of chorus girl might even be singing and dancing in hopes of finding a suitable match, with the well-born and -financed gents in the audience keeping a close eye for a potential spouse.
Those very high-end chorus girls, the Gaiety Girls in Britain, and a little later, the cast of of FLORADORA in the States, were an entirely different art form (and an entirely different #ThrowbackThursday post – next week!) than most female performers. While it was certainly possible to make an honorable career in the theatre, it wasn’t easy, and it definitely wasn’t always safe and pretty.
The stage-door Johnnies were both an occupational hazard – and a potential perk. Of course, in the 19th Century, no one had ever heard of stalking, but performers, and whatever protectors they had, were very familiar with the overly enthusiastic admirer. Then, as now, it could take any form from the annoying to the actively dangerous; there are plenty of lurid tales of men coming after women they knew only from the stage.
Despite that, most stage-door admirers were harmless, if annoying. There’s no need for a deep dive into the male gaze here, but you don’t have to be a performer to know it can be pretty creepy to have a man you don’t especially want looking at you in a certain way. And if pleasing the patrons is your job, you just have to tolerate the look – and hope that it never goes any further. A century-and-a-half before #MeToo, even the most enlightened employer would figure if you’re putting yourself on stage to be looked at, you don’t have a right to complain about a little staring off stage.
Every once in a while, though, you might actually get lucky enough to have someone you wanted to look at you. It’s not something anybody kept stats on, but there were basically two possibilities for a decent marriage if you were a performer: you could marry a man in the business or you could meet someone outside. In a theatre company, where there are no secrets, a lot of women knew much too much about the habits of their colleagues to want one as a husband.
Which left the fellows at the door.
It wasn’t the approved way to make a match, of course, but nice people had to meet somewhere, and sometimes, women actually did find a husband among the stage-door Johnnies – without living to regret it.
That, however, is not very likely for Ella Shane. Her admirers are very definitely in the
“annoying at best” category, though they’re good for plenty of fun along the way. And as for potential partners, well, the answer to that question is coming soon, in A FATAL RECEPTION!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments.
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Thank you, Kathleen, for your insight into the dubious activity of Stage Door Johnnies of the Gilded Age.
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